La Palma, CA — The Kennedy Fighting Irish began their 2020 baseball season Saturday the same way they had ended last year’s season 273 days earlier, playing against the Sonora High School Raiders. That previous confrontation, on the final night of the 2019 CIF postseason, took 7 innings to complete and saw the Irish walk away with a 7-1 victory and the CIF Championship. This meeting would take a lot longer and would not end in such a decisive manner. In fact, after 18 innings of struggle, both teams left exhausted, but with their first victory under their belt and an increased respect for one another. Sonora jumped out to an early lead in the first game when they pieced together three singles and a hit batter to force across the first run. They would add another run in the third and a final one in the sixth and held a 3-0 advantage when Kennedy came up for their final at bat. The Irish struggled at the plate through much of the afternoon and had managed only one hit over the first 6 innings. They came alive in the seventh when Tyler Beckler, Kyle Chung, Adrian Ramon and Ryan Cathcart ripped singles in rapid succession to force across a run and send a second one toward home. However, a perfect throw from the Sonora right fielder cut down Chung at the plate to end the rally and give the game to the Raiders by a 3-1 margin. Wyatt Johnson started the game and turned in his usual quality outing striking out 6 and allowing just the 3 runs over 6 innings. Brett Clark relieved him in the 7th and pitched effectively, working out of a jam and shutting down the Raiders without a run. Tyler Beckler led the Irish offense with 2 hits, but more will be said about him in a moment. The second game was a pitching duel from the start. Sonora’s Aaron Rosales turned in a masterful performance, not allowing a runner to reach base until a walk in the fourth inning, and striking out 7 of the first 9 batters he faced. He ended up with a total of 12 strikeouts while allowing only 1 run on 5 hits before departing in the seventh inning. But Kennedy’s Sam Moctezuma was not left in his dust. He shut out Sonora on 2 hits over the first 5 innings of his afternoon. A past ball and a wild pitch allowed Sonora to pick up a cheap run in the 6th, but Sam buckled down and continued his masterpiece, allowing only 2 hits the rest of the way and at one point retiring 9 batters in a row. He pitched a total of 10 strong innings, giving up just the one unearned run on 5 hits and striking out 4. It was truly an outstanding performance. Gavin Smith turned in the the day’s second effective relief effort in the eleventh inning shutting down the Raiders and setting the table for Kennedy’s final at bat. As in the first game, the Kennedy bats were slow to warm up. But after Sonora took the lead in the top of the 6th, Chase Leonard led off the bottom half of that inning with a solid single to center. Jason May laid down a beautiful sacrifice bunt to get him into scoring position and, after Sebastian McSherry was walked intentionally, Tyler Beckler drove him in to tie the game. From that point on, the Irish began to hit and mounted a threat in every inning, but could not push across a run to end it. Finally, in the 11th, they loaded the bases with 2 outs, bringing McSherry to the plate. Sonora had been pitching around Sebastian all afternoon evidenced by his 3 walks. This time they had no place to put him but still were afraid to give him anything to drive. In the end they walked him again, bringing in Leonard with the winning run and ending the long afternoon. Another notable performance for the day belonged to the aforementioned Tyler Beckler. At the plate, Tyler ripped the ball repeatedly. He ended up with 6 hits in 8 trips to the plate. Even his outs were on balls that he lined with authority. He began the 7th inning rally in the first game and drove in the tying run in the second. And his defense at times was spectacular, charging in to bare-hand a bunt, diving to his left to rob a hit, backhanding a ball near the bag, each time throwing out the runner at first. It was truly a powerful day for the senior third baseman. On another note, Kennedy’s defense was brilliant at times. Wyatt Johnson threw out 3 batters at first base from his position in right field. (Has anyone ever witnessed that before)? David Roman started a double play with a beautiful stop. Dom Kamoda dug a number of throws out of the dirt at first base to save outs. McSherry made a nice throw to nip a base stealer. Ryan Cathcart made a great throw from center field to cut down a runner at the plate. On that play, catcher McSherry decoyed the runner by pretending the throw was not on its way until the last second when he whirled, caught and tagged the runner in one motion. Over the course of a season, these “little” things will add up to big victories. At the plate, (Besides Beckler), Chase Leonard and Ryan Cathcart each collected two hits and Chung, Adrian Ramon, Johnson, McSherry and Evan Chadwick added one hit apiece. The Irish return to action next Thursday when they travel to Corona Del Mar for a 3pm game.